Youngsters History Project - March 14th 2011
Following weeks of investigation and hard work, children from Marden Bridge Middle School in Whitley Bay are about to put on a very special performance inspired by an emotional episode from World War Two.
The pupils have been working on a region-wide project called “Challenging History” supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund, in which six schools have partnered with an archive centre to discover the past. Marden Bridge Middle School chose to work with the Northumberland Archive at Woodhorn and investigate Operation Pied Piper which involved the traumatic evacuation of over one million children. The youngster’s performance has been inspired by the information they uncovered and their own experiences during the project.
Initially the 14 Year 7 & 8 pupils examined a wide range of materials in the archives including official papers, newspaper articles, school circulars and oral history recordings to discover what people thought, felt and experienced during Operation Pied Piper. They talked to individuals who had been evacuated and also to those whose community gave shelter to the displaced children from the threatened areas.
“To give the youngsters a real experience of what it would be like to be taken from your daily routine and placed in a strange environment, they spent the day at Glendale Middle School in Wooler, ” explained Victoria Coxon, one of Woodhorn’s education team. “Even though it was only a token evacuation, it gave them a real sense of what it would be like to be total outsiders. They all found it a very worthwhile experience.”
The dramatic climax to the project will be a promenade performance which will recreate the journey of an evacuee.
“It is a contemporary response to the historical events,” said Victoria,” and so includes things that the young people can identify with such as rap and poetry as well as excerpts from official documents and newsflashes.”
The performance will be on 7 April at Marden Bridge Middle School in Whitley Bay. The evening will also feature music from Ashington Male Voice Choir. Details and tickets can be obtained from the school.
Later in the month, the young people will be taking their performance to Wooler too where a further 26 children from Glendale Middle School will play a supporting role in the presentation.